How Crystal Meth Becomes Addictive
Meth, like other addictive drug including marijuana, cocaine or heroin, produces a pleasurable feeling without providing any other short- or long-term benefits. When you repeatedly use crystal meth and trigger the reward pathway in your brain, your body begins to rely upon the drug to feel happy any, and eventually, you lose the ability to naturally produce the chemicals needed to feel pleasure. Ultimately, this means that without the drug, you experience intense depression, loss of energy, and overall “down” feelings. A meth user will even eventually begin to dislike any activities that aren’t drug-related and will focus solely on obtaining the drug. However, if you find that you or someone you love is addicted to methamphetamine, it is not a lost cause; meth addiction is a medical disease that can be treated with a crystal meth detox and methamphetamine addiction treatment.
At Orchid Recovery Center, we provide women with all of the resources they need to fight back against meth addiction and abuse. And, because we treat only women at Orchid, we are well-equipped with treatments and therapies that speak directly to the needs of women suffering from drug addiction.
How Crystal Meth Addiction Begins
In the body, there is a natural pleasure and reward system. It involves the transmission of neurochemicals between different cells in the brain. When you take drugs like meth, they affect this natural balance and cause it to run amok. Meth can stimulate the brain into producing large quantities of pleasure-causing neurochemicals but at a price. Once the chemicals are released, they are not reabsorbed into the system as they would be if originally released under natural circumstances. This means that they are not accessible when you begin to feel down and are in need of a natural lift. Ultimately, feelings of extreme depression and low energy result along with a physiological and emotional craving for more meth to fight these negative feelings. The result is that, in order to feel good in any way, the addict must take more meth, perpetuating the cycle of crystal meth addiction.
How Crystal Meth Addiction Grows Over Time
Once you take meth for the first time, you form a subconscious physical memory of the experience. This memory tells your brain and body that the consumption of meth brings about an immediate pleasurable effect. This subconscious memory grows stronger with each use of the drug and increases your cravings and urge to take the drug, ultimately trapping you in a cycle of abuse and addiction. However, no one trapped in the cycle of crystal meth addiction will be able to recreate the intensity of their first experience with the drug. Rather, they will be forced to take larger and larger doses, both to recapture the initial high and because their bodies develop a tolerance to the drug.
How Crystal Meth Addiction Ultimately Fails
As you become more deeply enmeshed in your crystal meth addiction, your body strengthens the memory of the pleasurable feelings associated with the drug. Unfortunately, some of the side effects of meth mean that appetite is significantly reduced and you can lose large amounts of weight, an unhealthy amount. This, coupled with the fact that each subsequent dose must be higher in order to achieve a high, means that the addict’s body is slowly breaking down as she eats less and takes in more and more of the toxic drugs. Ultimately, crystal meth addiction causes a crash, both mentally and physically.
Crystal Meth Rehab at Orchid Recovery Center
Orchid is a drug and alcohol rehab center, designed to help women who are struggling with addiction and substance abuse problems. Because Orchid treats only women, each of our therapies and treatment modules addresses one or more of the issues that women face when dealing with drug addiction and co-occurring disorders. Contact us at Orchid Recovery Center today for more information.
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